Detailed Session Presentation Information
Tuesday
November 8, 2022
9:00am - PLENARY
Opening Remarks from CalSTA Secretary Toks Omishakin
Opening Remarks from Caltrans Director Tony Tavares
Caltrans Innovation Resources and Tools
The Idea Factory, The Innovation Exchange, Innovation Training, Innovation Liaisons
Pauline Valenzuela, Caltrans Statewide Innovation Coordinator
10:00am - INNOVATIONS USING DRONES
Utilizing UAS in Steep-Terrain Vegetation Surveys
Peter Champion - Associate Environmental Planner (Natural Sciences)
Joshua Miller – Associate Environmental Planner
Michael Erickson – Associate Environmental Planner
When standard surveying methods were ruled out due to hazardous site conditions (steep terrain, unstable rock faces, overhead power lines) Caltrans District 7 Biologists implemented VR technology and 3D UAS modeling to conduct surveys for rare plants and monitor vegetation growth for rockfall projects. Utilizing UAS in steep-terrain vegetation analysis has proven to be safer, faster, less expensive, yet, just as thorough as traditional environmental surveying methods.
10:20am - INNOVATIONS USING DRONES
Drone Use for Rockfall Mitigation
Alan Sharon, Caltrans Maintenance Supervisor, Maintenance Support
Ron Karpowicz, Senior Engineering Geologist, Geotechnical Design West
This presentation will showcase how we are using drones in Rockfall Mitigation tasks. This technology has increased safety and productivity while saving the department money.
10:40am
Partnerships Pave the Way for Wildlife Connectivity on Santa Cruz Highway 17
Morgan Robertson, Senior Environmental Scientists, District 5
The Santa Cruz Mountains are becoming increasingly isolated by habitat fragmentation, making it more difficult for wildlife to traverse and occupy the mountain range. In 2022, Caltrans District 5 and the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission began construction of a wildlife undercrossing structure on Highway 17 to allow safe movement of wildlife and improve traffic safety along this stretch of highway. The Laurel Curve Wildlife Crossing project is an example of how diverse public and private entities can work together to leverage funds and provide substantial benefits to wildlife species.
11:00am
Innovation in Design Build Project in Orange County- A Geotechnical Perspective
Sharid K. Amiri, Senior Transportation Engineer, Geotechnical Design South, Geotechnical Services, Division of Engineering Services
The cone penetration test (CPT) technology was used for the first time in a Caltrans mega project to not only characterize the subsurface conditions, but also to directly use the CPT technology for design of the bridge pile foundations.
11:20am - Data Visualization and GIS
District 7 Office of Surveys GIS Survey Request System
Andrew Kadar, Transportation Surveyor, Office of Surveys
Saeideh Sharifzadeh, GIS Research Data Specialist, Office of Surveys
This presentation will showcase district 7 Office of Surveys GIS web map application for survey records (Alignments, Topography, Control Surveys, and Photogrammetry). This GIS web app allows access to survey records in a modern GIS format and once published on the public facing side of our firewall, will provide public access to the D7 survey records.
11:40am - Data Visualization and GIS
Integrating Web-based GIS into the Project Reporting System
Tony Hunt, PLS, PMP
Branch Chief, District 6 GIS and Project Support
District 6, Division of Asset, Program and Project Management
The Project Reporting System (http://projrpt/), an internal Caltrans statewide web tool used by staff from all disciplines, takes data from 14 different data sources and merges them into cohesive and logical format allowing for quick answers and informed decisions. The tool includes visualizations and GIS data while seamlessly merging web API mapping (e.g., Google and Street View) with ESRI applications that intelligently link the user to items of interest. This presentation will highlight the means of using GIS techniques and data on traditionally tabular (data in tables) interfaces.
1:00pm - 2:00pm - California Innovation: Showcasing Local Agency Solutions
Highlighting Four of California's Local Agencies
Tom O’Brien, Director, California Local Technical Assistance Program
Daniel Burke, Program Reviews & Outreach, Caltrans Division of Local Assistance
See below for session details and agency innovations.
The Santa Clarita Traffic Management Database
Mark Hunter, Transportation Planning Analyst, City of Santa Clarita
To simplify access to its ITS management infrastructure for data collection and reporting, Santa Clarita developed a centralized database that makes all information available to all staff at any time, whether in the office or in the field. Containing more than 20 years of historical data, this database empowers staff to make informed decisions on projects that impact traffic flow.
The Ventura County Bridge Management Program
Glenn Derossett, Engineering Manager, Ventura County Public Works
The County’s Bridge Management Program (BMP) established a database that prioritizes when and where an agency should invest and budget for required rehabilitation or replacement of National Bridge Inventory (NBI) and non-NBI structures. BMP optimizes the management of bridge assets and priority of their maintenance, including those not inspected by Caltrans.
The Kern COG Integrated Performance Measures Process
Rob Ball, Deputy/Planning Director, Kern Council of Governments
Performance measures (PMs) help provide accountability to the transportation planning process, however not all MPOs have the resources or expertise to implement the proliferation of PM requirements. By developing an “integrated PM process,” Kern COG not only streamlined PM reporting but made their evaluation more accessible to public stakeholders.
The Ventura County Standard Operating Procedure Checklist
Matthew Maechler, Engineering Manager, Roads & Transportation, Ventura County Public Works
With their SOP checklist, Ventura County set out to create a resource that would guide engineers through the project delivery process without missing regulatory or funding requirements. The aim was to reduce the number of project handoffs and potential mistakes, but the checklist has since proved invaluable in both acquiring federal funding and on-boarding new engineers.
Wednesday
November 9, 2022
10:00am
Electrical Asset Tables In Plans
Arik Jenkins, Electrical Supervisor Specialist, District 3 Maintenance
Jonathan Mattison, Maintenance Support, District Office of D-03 / Marysville
Utilize asset tables in electrical sheets of all plansets that add, modify or remove electrical assets. The tables will not only help to streamline the process of adding and removing electrical assets from IMMS, but also serve as an index to the plans, providing all the necessary fields in an "at-a-glance" format, greatly reducing the opportunities for omissions, duplicates, and errors. Presentation will cover benefits to Design, Construction, Maintenance, Accounts Payable/Receivable, Agreements, IMMS inventory tracking, LOS and ArcGIS layers.
10:20am
Cold in-place recycling: Life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost analysis (LCCA)
Jacob F. Duncan, PE
Acting Branch Chief
Office of Materials and Pavement - West
For the first time in District 4, life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) and life cycle assessment were performed to quantify the costs and global warming potential, respectively, related to Cold-in-place recycling (CIR) construction. The methods that were developed can be adopted whenever LCCA is required for evaluation of pavement design alternatives. In addition to longstanding parameters such as material performance, constructability, cost, and traffic impact, global warming potential can now be used to judge pavement design alternatives if climate change and environment are key project considerations.
10:40am
An Overview of the Caltrans Product Evaluation Program (PEP)
Brett Soldano, Senior Bridge Engineer, Chief of the Materials Management Branch, Office of Materials Management and Independent Assurance, Materials Engineering and Testing Services, Division of Engineering Services
Jennifer Moore, Product Evaluation Program Coordinator, Staff Services Analyst, Materials Management Branch
The presentation will be a brief introduction and overview of the PEP which is the avenue for product suppliers and or innovators to submit their products for evaluation as an Authorized Material List (AML) product or a new product for which an existing specification does not exist. If successful, these products can be incorporated into the state’s transportation system.
11:00am
Bat Exclusion Tubes For Bridges
Newton Wong. Biologist. D7 Environmental planning
Robert Wang. St Environmental Planner. D7 Environmental Planning
We needed to install exclusion tubes to prevent bats and swallows from nesting inside the soffits of a bridge that will be in construction. Previous designs require a worker on a man lift to secure upside-down cones to the bridge. However, we did not have a man lift in the river bed. Uneven terrain associated with riverbeds presents a challenge for equipment (environmental constraints, running water, etc.) and bio permit restrictions. We designed a bat exclusion tube that can be installed easily to bridge soffit holes from the ground using long extension poles. Quick effortless installation, efficiency, and worker safety.
11:20am
Running Ahead of the Wave - Process of Succession Planning
Matt Friedman,
Chief, Office of Aviation Planning
Caltrans Division of Aeronautics
In the past, the retirement of an experienced person would often leave a knowledge void that would take substantial time to recoup. In May of 2021 a long-standing employee of the Office of Aviation Planning promoted to a new position outside of Caltrans. It became clear that there was no clear process to train a new employee to acquire all the skills and knowledge to serve as a replacement. It also was discovered that the entire remaining regular staff of the office would be retiring in less than a year and a half. During the past year the Office of Aviation Planning has executed a process of succession planning as well as knowledge and skills retention, and transfer to successor employees.
1:00pm - Data Visualization Innovations
Portfolio Management via Excel VBA Dynamic Reports
Robert Kroepfl, Senior Transportation Engineer, Office of Project Implementation North
Division of Local Assistance
Hau Doan, Senior Transportation Engineer
Office of Guidance and Oversight
Division of Local Assistance
Software evolution from our typical single project interface to a project portfolio interface. It utilizes data from Local Assistance Program System (LP2000), Caltrans Federal-Aid Data System (FADS), and FHWA's Fiscal Management Information System (FMIS) to create a data visualization of the portfolio of federal projects within Local Assistance. The visualization displays the most important information necessary to understand and identify issues within the portfolio of projects. It allows users to navigate the data from a comprehensive view of the data to more detailed one on a single screen.
1:20pm - Data Visualization Innovations
Automated Data Lake, ETL and Interactive Data Visualization Service
Zhenyu Zhu, Branch Chief, Mobility Data Program, HQ Traffic Operations
Loren Turner, HQ Asset Management Office Chief, HQ Traffic Operations
We present an implemented practice within Caltrans HQ asset management, a data lake with end-to-end automated ETL pipeline and interactive data visualization web service.
The presented process has been supporting the SHOPP Major, SHOPP Minor as well as HM project book management.
The data pipeline is flexible in accommodating data updates from various data source, with variable schedules and continuously evolving data processing logics.
1:40pm - Data Visualization Innovations
Clean California Data Analysis and Visualization Initiative
Walter Yu, Clean California Program Manager
Noah Sanchez, Division of Maintenance
The Clean California Program is leveraging data analysis and visualization to deploy its litter collection crews more effectively which has improved efficiency and public perception of Caltrans litter cleanup efforts. In particular, Clean California has analyzed litter collection and Level of Service (LOS) assessment data to identify highway corridors which would benefit from additional litter cleanup by Caltrans district litter crews.